Track-sanding apparatus.



O. JOHNSON.

TRACK SANDING APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 5, 1913 1,086,454. Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

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TRACK-SANDING APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 5, 1913. Serial No. 777,382.

Patented Feb. 10, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, OsoAnJoHNsoN, a citizenof the United States, residing at-Chicago, in the county of Cook andState of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inTrack-Sanding Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to track-sanding apparatus, and particularly toapparatus of the type used upon electrically propelled cars.

When an emergency application of the air brakes is made the wheels arelikely. to become locked and to slide on the rail, to obviate which itis necessary to increase the traction between the wheels and the railsby depositing sand on the latter. Heretofore, it-has been customary toprovide sand boxes beneath each platform, only those under the frontplatform being operated in making a stop. When a heavy application ofair was made to the brakes, the wheels of the rear truck were likely tobecome locked before they reached the sanded portion of the track. Whenso locked, the wheels pushed before them sufiicient scale and dirt tosweep the sand ofl the rails, thus nullifying the sanding operation sofar as the wheels of the rear truck were concerned.

One of the objects of this invention is to arrange the track-sandingapparatus in such a way as to obviate the difiiculty just mentioned.

Heretofore, the sand boxes and the trap have been located beneath thefloor of the car, and thus the sand has been exposed to moisture and tofreezing weather, in consequence'of' which sand in the trap has beenliable to cake or freeze. When the sand is caked or frozen, the trap mayfail to discharge the sand, or the air pressure may accumulate until thesand is discharged with such force as to scatter it over the right ofway.

v To avoid these disadvantages is one of the objects of this invention.

In previous forms of-track-sanding apparatus, the nozzle that dischargesair into the sand trap has been provided with a small substantiallycircular orifice, from which the air emerged in the form of a finestream. When the sand is moist, such a fine stream is apt to bore a holethrough the sand, without causing the discharge of an effective amountof sand.

A further object of the invention is to obvlate the difiiculty justmentioned.

Heretofore, it has been the practice to adm1t the compressed airdirectly to the nozzle, and the latter has become frequently cloggedwith sand, scale and particles of iron rust. When so clogged, it hasbeen necessary to send the car to the barn, take apart the line of pipecontaining the nozzle, clean the nozzle and replace the parts. It isimpracticable-to use a nozzle, the orifice of which may be readilyadjusted or enlarged in case of clogging, because experience has shownthat an adjustable nozzle is a temptation to the motorman to enlarge theopening for the purpose of obtaining a greater supply of sand. Suchenlargement, however, leads to rapid exhaustion of sand and compressedair, the brakes being thereby rendered ineffective. Thus, when occasionarises for a quick application of the brakes to avoid an accident, thebrakes fail to respond.

One of the objects of this invention is to providean air inlet means forsand traps which can be readily cleaned and which is of such form andappearance as not to attract the attention of the motorman or permit ofits convenient manipulation by unauthorized persons.

Further objects of the invention will be apparent from the followingdetailed description of one form of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings, which illustrate one embodiment of theinvention, Figure 1 is an elevation of a sand box, a sand trap andconnected parts illustrating the arrangement. thereof with reference tothe car and the track. Fig. 2 is a vertical ,sectional view of the sandtrap. Fig. 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken in the plane of dottedline 3 3 of Fig. 2. Fig. 4. is a perspective view of the nozzle. Fig. 5is a sectional view of the adjustable air inlet. Fig. i

.6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the relation of the sanddischarge pipe to the car.

;Certain features of the invention are apphcable to sand traps and sandboxes located beneath the car platforms or in any other suitable orconvenient places. In practice, sand boxes and traps would be arrangedto discharge sand upon the rails beneath each platform. Such location ofthe sand boxes and traps being old, I have not illustrated it herein,but have shown the invention as a plied to a sand box and trap locatedwithin the car body.

In the drawings, 40 indicates asand box and 62 a sand trap, both locatedwithin the car body, preferably beneath a transverse seat, as 61. Thesand box may be of any suitable construction. The trap is detachablysecured to the sand box by means of bolts and nuts 63. In the lower endof the trap body is a cleaning opening 74 which is normally closed by ascrew plug 75. The sand outlet 64 is at one side of the trap body, andnear the upper part thereof.

65 is a baflle to prevent sand from flowing directly from the sand boxto the outlet- At the side of the trap body, opposite to the outlet64,.is an air nozzle 66. In .order to diffuse the air issuing from saidnozzle, I form the orifice of two intersecting slits 67 or equivalentconstruct-ions affording a relative broad or diffused air discharge. Inorder further to insure efiective action of the air upon the sand, Iprovide a bafile 68 inclin'ed downwardly in front of the nozzle 66.Contact of-the stream of air with the bafile 68 diffuses or breaks upsaid stream, said bafiie also directing the air downwardly below thesand. The baffle 68 also keeps the sand away from the nozzle 66, thuspreventing sand from caking upon or clogging the nozzle. Abaffle 69 isprovided to prevent the air from eddying or returning toward the bafile68. It will be noted that the lower edges of the baflies and 68 are inthe same vertical plane, thus preventing the air pressure from holdingback the sand and interfering with the flow of sand from the sand box. 7

The bailie 68 and the adjacent wall of the trap body form a chamber ainto which the compressed air is admitted. The body of air in saidchamber exerts its force against all the sand lying below the plane ofthe lower edge of the baflie 68. The pressure n said chamber increasesuntil the pressure is suflicient to discharge the sand; and the pressurein said chamber may rise until it equals the pressure in the mainreservoir. Thus if the trap contains a quantity of caked sand, highpressure is practically instantly available to force out the sand. Whenthe sand is dry and granular, the air pressure simply causes the sand tooverflow the barrier 70, the sand falling through the pipe 71 onto therail under the action of gravity and without being blown through saidpipe. In order to obtain a prom t and reliable discharge of the sand,the pipe 71 is made straight and is vertically disposed, as shown, thusobviating danger of choking at bends.

v A sand box 40 and a sand trap 62 are referably located midway of thelength 0 the car, as indicated in Fig. 6, and at each side of the car,so that there is a pipe 71 above each rail. Thus when said traps and the.sand traps beneath the front platform are operated, sand is supplied tothe rails front of each truck of the car.

In Fig. 6 a indicates the usual brake for each truck. I

The means for supplying a proper amount of air to the nozzle 66comprises a casing 76 having two alined internally screw threaded ends76 and 7 6 The upper end 76 of the casing is connected to the nozzle bymeans of a pipe 77. The casing is connected at one side to the airsupply pipe 41. In the lower end of theeasing is a screw'78 extendinglongitudinally of the casing. The inner end of the screw 78 ispreferably plane, and opposite such inner end is provided a planesurface 79 surrounding the opening 76 through which air passes from thecasing 76 to the pipe 77. In practice, the screw 78 is turned until itsinner end in contact with the surface 79. The screw is then unscrewed asuitable distance, say half a turn, to create arestricted openingestablishing communication between the pipes 41 and 77. It will be seenthat scale and other foreign matter will find lodg ment in the lowerportion of the casing without ordinarily obstructing the air inlet spaceformed between the screw 78 and the surface 79. If, however, it becomesneces sary to clean out the air inlet casing 7 6, the screw 78 may beremoved, and all foreign matter blown out through the lower end of thecasing, it being unnecessary to disconnect any of the pipes. The end ofthe screw 78 that projects into the interior chamber of the casing 76 ismade without screw-threads, in order that removal of the screw shall notbe impeded or prevented by accumulation of foreign matter in thescrew-thread.

It.will be seen that the air inlet device just described does not havethe appearance of a valve or an adjustable device, and moreover cannotbe adjusted without the use of a wrench. Thus it is not likely to betampered with by the motorman.

The devices herein described and claimed are substantially similar tothose disclosed in my copendin-g application Serial No. 744,304, filedJan 27, 1913.

I claim as my invention:

1. In a track-sanding apparatus, a trap body having a compressed airinlet, a sand outlet, means for supporting a body of sand between saidinlet and outlet, and an air expansion chamber between the air inlet andthe body of sand.

2. In a sand-trap for track sanding apparatus, the combination of a trapbody, an air nozzle attached to said body, a bafiie in said bodyextending downwardly at an angle in front of said nozzle and adapted todiffuse the stream of air that enters through the nozzle and direct saidstream downwardly, and sand-discharging means for said trap body.

3. In combination, a trap body, sand-discharge means at one side of saidtrap body, air-inlet means at the opposite side of said body, a battlein said body extending downwardly from the upper portion thereof towardthe side at which the air-inlet means is located, and a battle in saidbody extending downwardly and at an angle in front of and above saidair-inlet means.

4. In combination, a trap body, sand-discharge means at one side of saidtrap body, air-inlet means at the opposite side of said body, a bafiiein said body extending downwardly from the upper portion thereof towardthe side at which the air-inlet means is located, and a battle in saidbody extending downwardly and at an angle in front of said air-inletmeans, the lower edges of said batllcs being in approximately the samevertical plane.

5. In combination, a trap body. sand-discharge means at one side of saidtrap body, air-inlet means at the opposite side of said body, a bafliein said body extending downwardly from the upper portion thereof towardthe side at which the air-inlet means is located, a bafile in said bodyextending downwardly and at an angle in front of said air inlet means,and a baffle in said body below the first mentioned bafile and adaptedto prevent the return flow of air.

6. In a sand trap, a tap body having a sand outlet at one point; an airnozzle at another point, and a battle forming with the trap body an airchamber into which the nozzle discharges, said air chamber being betweenthe nozzle and the body of sand in the trap body.

7. in a. traclrsanding apparatus, the combination of a sand trap, an airpipe communicating with said trap, and an adjustable inlet for said pipecomprising a seat and 3 a screw, the inner end of which is arranged 5close to said seat so as to form a restricted space for the assage ofan.

8. In a trac r-sanding apparatus, in com bination, a sand trap, acasing, a pipe connccting one end of said casing with said trap, a.screw turned into the opposite end of said casing and providing betweenits inner end and a portion of said casing a restricted space for thepassage of air, and an air supply pipe connected to said casing.

9. In a track-sanding apparatus, in combination, a sand trap, a casing,a pipe connecting the upper end of said casing with said trap, a screwturned into the lower end of said casing and providing between its upperend and a portion of said casing a restricted space for the passage ofair, a space being provided in said casing below said restricted spacefor the lodgment of dirt, and an air supply connected to said casin 10.In a track-sanding apparatus, a sand trap, a nozzle for said trap, saidnozzle having an orifice adapted to discharge a diffused ing an orificeadapted to discharge a difi'used 7 5 stream of air and consisting of anarrow slit and a part arranged to keep the sand away from the orifice.

12. In a track-sanding apparatus, atrap body, an air inlet at one sideof the trap body, a sand outlet at the opposite side of the trap body,said body being adapted to receive sand between said air inlet and sandoutlet, and said body having means to keep the sand away from the airinlet and form an air expansion chamber between the air inlet and thesand.

In testimony whereof I hereto aflix my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

OSCAR JOHNSON.

\Vitnesses EARL (J. CARLSON, GEORGE L. CIIINDAHL.

